"Hmph, who did I think it was? Just a small fry who had only just stepped into the Dou Ling realm."
A bold male voice rang out from the distance.
"Hahaha, Clan Leader Jia Lie, it has been a while!"
A tall, imposing figure carrying a long saber blocked the entrance to the hall.
"You... Xiao Zhan! So it was you, Xiao Zhan!" Jia Lie Bi raised his head stiffly and stared blankly at Xiao Zhan.
"Haha, it's me. Clan Leader Jia Lie, why did you bring this salted fish here? To deal with my Xiao Clan?" Xiao Zhan asked with a disdainful smile.
"Xiao Zhan, don't get smug, you—"
Jia Lie Bi's vacant eyes seemed to have been provoked by Xiao Zhan's contemptuous smile. His gaze instantly sharpened as he prepared to curse him out.
Splash!
A flash of white light passed by, and Jia Lie Bi, who had just opened his mouth, was instantly beheaded.
"But none of that matters anymore."
Xiao Zhan sheathed his saber and stood there with a faint smile.
Outside the hall, Third Elder led several skilled clan members rushing inside.
"Clan Leader."
Seeing the two corpses on the ground, Third Elder cupped his hands toward Xiao Zhan and awaited instructions.
"Jia Lie Bi is dead. Drag his corpse outside for the Jialie Clan to see and make them abandon their futile resistance. Oh, right, drag this salted fish's corpse out too."
Xiao Zhan nudged the white-robed man's corpse with his foot.
"Yes." Third Elder and the others replied.
Outside the hall, Xiao Yan, who was hidden in the shadows, fired a burst of Dou Qi that knocked aside a deadly slash from the Jialie Clan's Da Dou Shi, who was fighting Xiao Zhen, the chief instructor of the Xiao Clan's Martial Arts Hall. Xiao Zhen, who had been in grave danger, brightened at the sight and swept his sword through, taking the Da Dou Shi's life.
"Teacher, it looks like the situation is more or less settled," Xiao Yan said quietly to Yao Lao.
"Yes, things are about finished on your father's side as well." Yao Lao slowly withdrew his gaze from Xiao Zhan and responded softly as he watched the sounds of battle gradually fade from the field.
"Jia Lie Bi is dead! Surrender at once!"
"The Dou Ling expert is dead! Surrender at once!"
Third Elder held up the corpses of Jia Lie Bi and the white-robed man as he roared loudly.
Uproar! The already feeble resistance on the field immediately ceased.
Xiao Zhan walked out of the hall. Watching the Xiao Clan elites escort and drive away the Jialie Clan prisoners, he asked Third Elder beside him in a relaxed tone, "I wonder how things are going for Great Elder and Second Elder?"
Third Elder stroked his beard and laughed. "With Lord Shan accompanying them, things should be proceeding very smoothly."
"That's true." Xiao Zhan laughed aloud.
At the Aoba Clan's residence, broken walls and ruins lay everywhere.
The brutal slaughter had already ended. Corpses strewn all over the ground seemed to recount the intensity of the resistance and fighting.
"Xiao Tian, Xiao Di, how dare you! How dare you attack my Aoba Clan!"
Aoba Pa, the Aoba Clan's Clan Leader, pointed furiously at the Xiao Clan's Great Elder and Second Elder, his face twisted with rage.
"Hahaha, Aoba Pa, why wouldn't we dare? Did you think the Xiao Clan knew nothing about the little tricks you and Jia Lie Bi were pulling? Do you take the Xiao Clan for fools? We merely struck first." Great Elder looked at Aoba Pa with utter contempt.
"Impossible, impossible! How could your Xiao Clan suddenly produce two Dou Ling experts? That's impossible! Wutan City hasn't had a Dou Ling expert in nearly twenty years!" Aoba Pa trembled incessantly, as though frightened senseless.
"Hmph, Xiao Tian, why waste words with him? Kill!" Second Elder roared and waved his hand.
Watching his clan members suffer devastating losses, Aoba Pa seemed to finally make up his mind. He lost all reason and shouted, "Master Xu! Master Xu! My Aoba Clan accepts your conditions! We agree for the entire clan to become your dependents! Master Xu, please save my Aoba Clan!"
"Hmph, why didn't you agree earlier?" A middle-aged man's voice came from a distant courtyard. Three figures flashed over and arrived before Aoba Pa.
"I, Xu Yi, accept your invitation."
The middle-aged man standing in the center wore an alchemist's specially tailored robe and carried the fragrance of medicine about him. He raised his chin at Aoba Pa.
"Hmph, and who are you?" Second Elder, who had been about to continue attacking, asked cautiously as he looked at the three suddenly appearing Dou Ling experts.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Xu Yi, a fourth-grade Alchemist from the Imperial Alchemist Guild." Xu Yi arrogantly pointed at the four golden leaves on his robe.
"Of course, you may also call me Master Xu, just as Clan Leader Aoba does."
"These are my two companions." Xu Yi casually pointed to the two people behind him, and the two Dou Ling experts stepped forward.
"I trust you heard what Clan Leader Aoba said just now. The Aoba Clan has agreed to become my dependents. I hope you can give me, Xu Yi, some face today and let this matter with the Aoba Clan end here. I, Xu Yi, will certainly repay you generously in the future. How about this? If you ever need me to refine pills in the future, I can agree to refine one batch for you." As he spoke, a smile appeared at the corner of Xu Yi's lips.
"Hahaha." Before Second Elder could reply, Great Elder burst into laughter as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
"Hmph, what are you laughing at?" Xu Yi's expression darkened at once.
"Hahaha, what the hell are you, to dare speak to the Xiao Clan like that? You even say you'll refine pills for us? Pah!" After laughing, Great Elder snorted coldly.
"You're courting death! Do you believe I—" Xu Yi nearly went mad.
"Oh? Do you believe what? This old man would like to hear it too."
A voice came from afar. A figure appeared in the sky, dazzling azure Dou Qi wings continuously flapping behind him. His vast, domineering aura shook everyone present.
"Uh... uh..." Xu Yi seemed to have had his throat seized. The words lodged in his throat could not come out.
"Greetings, Clan Elder!"
"Greetings, Clan Elder!"
"Greetings, Clan Elder!"
Great Elder and Second Elder beamed with wild joy as they led the Xiao Clan elites in bowing toward the Dou Wang expert in the sky.
"Mm. Xiao Tian, Xiao Di, the two of you did well."
The mysterious old man who had suddenly appeared in the sky retracted his Dou Qi wings and descended before Great Elder and Second Elder.
"A... a Dou Wang expert?" Xu Yi finally managed to make a sound after being speechless for so long, his entire body shaking without pause.
"So I would like to ask: do you believe what?" The old man turned around and pressed him with an amused expression, his aura firmly locking onto Xu Yi.
"Junior... Junior suddenly remembered that I still have some matters to attend to. Junior will take his leave first."
Having finally broken free of the old man's aura lock, Xu Yi panted heavily, drenched in cold sweat, and fled without looking back with his two companions.
Aoba Pa had long since collapsed limply to the ground. Staring blankly in the direction Xu Yi and his group had left, he muttered, "Master Xu, come back. I'll agree to anything, anything at all. I want you to kill them, kill them! Hahaha, kill them. Wuwuwu, come back. Master Xu, you promised me. You promised me."
The old man looked at Aoba Pa, who was sprawled nearby, shook his head with a smile, then waved to Great Elder. "He is ruined. Take him away."
"Yes, Clan Elder!" everyone shouted.
Before you continue